Creative Writing
by StormyMonday
Summary: It's pretty much impossible to just pick up the phone and call or text a loved one when you're dead. Yui likes to think she's found a way around that, though. Whether it actually works she has no way of knowing, but at least it makes her feel better. And maybe it will make Hinata feel better, too.


_Author's Note: Yes I realize I have two very neglected works in progress out there just gathering dust. Unfortunately, I seem to have written myself into a corner with both of them. Big surprise, right? In the meantime, here is a peace offering of sorts. Also, I know pretty much nothing about baseball. Just FYI. :P_

 _Beat read by the lovely and talented h34rt1lly. If you are a fan of Final Fantasy VIII, check out her stories. I guarantee you will love them!_

 _Please enjoy! ;D_

* * *

 **Creative Writing**

The warm afternoon breeze fluttered through Yui's hair as she stood at the end of the pathway leading down to the lake. She scanned the area and sighed. Exasperated, she stepped off the path, picked up a rock from the shoreline, and hurled it into the water. "Where are you, _damn it_?!"

Having followed the pinkette throughout the campus on her search, and curious to find out how long it would take before she noticed him, Hinata observed the girl with much amusement. With a mischievous grin, he crept up behind her, stopping just inches away. "Where's who?"

Thoroughly startled, Yui nearly jumped out of her skin, barely managing to keep her balance as the rocks along the shoreline shifted beneath her feet. She turned, her expression turning from complete shock to utter petulance. "What the hell is wrong with you, scaring me like that?! I could have had a heart attack and died!"

Hinata shrugged. "And then you would have woken up a few hours later like nothing happened."

She huffed and rolled her eyes. "Whatever."

"So, who is it you've been looking for?" He picked up some rocks and began skimming then across the lake's surface, while Yui sat down, slipped out of her shoes and socks, and submerged her bare feet into the pleasantly cool water.

"I was looking for you, actually. Thought maybe we could play a game of catch or something."

Hinata sat down beside his pink-haired friend and continued skimming rocks. "Believe it or not, I was planning on coming here before I decided it'd be more fun to spy on you."

"You'll have to forgive me for not seeing you as the outdoorsy type." She looked over and tilted her head just slightly. "Aside from the baseball field and the batting cage, I mean."

"Sometimes I come here to think."

Kicking her feet languidly, Yui giggled. "Hinata Hideki is capable of thinking! Somebody alert the press!"

The blue-eyed boy tried his best to seem hurt. "Hey, I'm a complex and sensitive person, you know!" There was a brief pause, and his expression became wistful. "To be honest, I like to come here when I'm missing my parents. The accident happened so fast that I never got a chance to say goodbye."

Stunned by her friend's admission, Yui frowned as a lump formed in her throat, and the corners of her eyes began to sting. Despite their nearly constant good-natured bickering, she knew that he was, in fact, one of the most sensitive and caring people she'd ever met. "Oh..."

Hinata glanced over at Yui and then back at the partially shaded lake. "I was catcher for my high school's baseball team, and we'd made it to nationals. It was the ninth inning - a tie game - and everyone was counting on me for the win." He sighed, and continued. "All I had to do was catch that damn ball. I don't know if it was the heat, or nerves, but...I just froze. I felt like such a loser afterward that I couldn't even look at any of my teammates." Again, he paused. "Anyway, one of the guys handed me a pill; said it would help me 'lighten up.' And it did. I was so high walking home that I walked out in front of a City Management truck without even knowing it was coming until I felt the heat from the engine on my face. By then, it was too late for the driver to stop." After a moment of awkward silence, he regarded Yui with genuine curiosity. "What about you?"

Yui didn't answer right away. She tried to resist scolding him for allowing his teammate to convince him that self-medicating was the answer to defeating shame, embarrassment, and depression, but Yui being the plucky girl she was, decided to speak her mind anyway, giving him a severe expression of disapproval. "You're an idiot."

He nodded. "I know."

"And you're selfish, too."

"I know that, Yui. I know that I threw my life away; that I put my family and friends through hell that will never go away, and I'm sure it's safe to say that the truck driver will blame himself for a stupid, selfish mistake that _I_ made."

Suppressing the intense need to go on a full-blown lecture, Yui closed her eyes, took in a deep breath, and exhaled slowly. "When I was a little girl I got hit by a car." She bit her bottom lip and her jaw began to clench. "Mom always said my doctors did everything they could, but I ended up paralyzed anyway." She looked at him, her expression a mixture of anger and sadness. "Do you know what it's like to have your body holding your mind hostage?"

Feeling as if he'd suddenly lost the right to speak, Hinata merely shook his head.

"I was lucky, though. Instead of sending me to some nursing facility, Mom decided to take care of me, and I got to live what was left of my life at home." She paused, unwilling to elaborate on the details of her life further. "I was about sixteen, I guess, when I got really sick. I remember going to the hospital...and not being able to stay awake... The very last thing I remember was squeezing Mom's hand, and then closing my eyes."

"So you don't remember _how_ you died?"

"No. I think they must have had me on pain medications. Probably Morphine."

Several moments passed, and the sun began to dip slowly toward the horizon, its rays casting long shadows, and a golden glow over the school grounds.

As Yui pulled her feet from the water and stood, Hinata offered his jacket as a makeshift towel, taking the opportunity to break the silence. "Do you think they know when we're thinking about them?"

"I'm still trying to figure out why we can't walk through walls."

"Please tell me you haven't tried."

Yui huffed and rolled her eyes. "Do you really think I'm _that_ stupid?"

"Do you _really_ want me to answer that?"

She snorted indignantly, slipped into her socks and shoes, and began walking back toward the school. "Fine, be that way if you want. I just won't tell you what _I_ do when I'm missing _my_ mom, then."

Hinata picked up his jacket and followed. "You write her a song."

"Nope."

" _Sing_ her a song?"

"Strike two."

"Okay, I give up."

"Promise not to make fun of me?"

"I promise."

"And you won't tell anyone?"

"You have my word."

"I write her a letter, tie it to a balloon, and then let it go."

Despite his promise, Hinata couldn't help but scoff at this. "Seriously? A balloon - with a letter attached? Now I _know_ you're looney."

Yui shot him a pointed sideways glance. "Pretty sure you promised you weren't going to make fun of me."

"Sorry, it's just...you know, physics...and stuff."

She stopped walking, turned to face him directly, and clasped her hands together theatrically. "Oh, how interesting! Please Mr. Physics Professor, teach me everything you know!"

"What's to know? I mean, we're dead. Unless your balloon-letter somehow turns into a ghost balloon-letter, I don't see the point."

"Wow, you totally don't get it, do you?" She proceeded to stalk past him toward the nearby double doors, her annoyance evident.

Hinata intercepted, however, trying his best to quell the girl's simmering ire by opening and holding the door for her. "Hey, calm down, okay? I'm just messing with you. "

Yui stopped and regarded her friend expectantly, quietly awaiting his explanation.

He released the large, heavy door as a cold gust of air conditioning rushed past the two. "It's not the delivery system, it's the sentiment, right?"

Yui, being considerably shorter than Hinata, stood on her tip-toes and patted him on the head, making sure to lower her voice when she replied so as to not attract the attention of Angel. "Bingo! Looks like I owe you a cookie."

Hinata rolled his eyes. "Oh ha ha, very funny."

Once safely away from Angel's current class, and hoping she wasn't on hall monitor duty, Yui was compelled to ask the obvious. "So, do you wanna do it?"

Hinata raised an eyebrow knowing very well that her question was genuine and completely innocent. Still, he just couldn't pass up the opportunity to intentionally misinterpret its meaning. "That's a little forward. Shouldn't we get to know each other a little better, first?"

Undaunted, the pinkette countered effortlessly. "I meant send a letter to your parents, _moron_."

He shrugged. "It's worth a try, I guess."

Quickly and quietly, the pair made their way to the arts and crafts supply room. After closing themselves in, moved a few items off of a spare lunch table and set about writing their letters, and creating the delivery systems; Yui taking extra time to pick out the prettiest hot pink ribbon she could find before curling it with scissors, and tying it and the letter to an equally eye-catching balloon.

It was well after sunset when Hinata and Yui finally found themselves under a cloudless, starlit sky atop the school's roof. Nodding to each other, they released their precious cargo into the breeze, watching as the balloons drifted away in the night.

Hinata broke the silence first. "You really think this'll work?"

Yui's voice trembled as warm tears rolled down her cheeks. "Like you said, it's worth a try."

Hinata nodded and put his arm around her. "Right. Now, I think you said you owe me a cookie."

She giggled quietly and sniffled. "You're such an idiot."


End file.
